This morning I was up at 6:30am talking to a pineapple, practising what I wanted to get across/get out of my 9am meeting with the Governance Adviser at DFID (UK Department for International Development). That's not a sentence I thought I'd ever be writing, but needs must.
With a lot of our office out on field visits this week I haven't been able to run any internal workshops or group sessions so I've been busy setting up and attending external meetings to identify opportunities where our Civic Participation work could fit in with what other organisations are already doing/plan to do. Think the DFID meeting went really well (thanks to the pineapple practice?!) and it looks like there are lots of possibilities to follow up on, including one that links some of the work we've been doing on empowerment and accountability initiatives with DFID in London.
Had a really big IT breakthrough today when Outlook finally worked!! I cannot begin to describe what a difference it makes to be able to download emails (when the internet is working) and then work on them offline. It means I'm not so reliant on the internet working throughout the day as long as it comes on enough to send and receive at various points. So I spent the rest of the day catching up on emails, following up from this morning's meeting and planning for the upcoming Programme Quality Conference in Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania) at the end of February. I've felt so in the dark about so many things that I'd usually be really clued up on, so today it was like someone turning on a lightbulb to be able to get back up to speed.
I didn't get home till 7pm and was just trying to figure out what I had in the flat to eat (an onion, some pasta, 2 tomatoes and a pineapple - yes the same pineapple from this morning) when Mr and Mrs Jabba invited me in to join them for grilled mullet, tabbouleh, hummus and Lebanese flat bread. I heart the Jabbas. Really kept me going all night while I was working on a report for the National Youth Commission on the role/capacity of District Youth Councils. I am really tired and it just seems like there aren't enough hours in the day, but I'm looking forward to a day off tomorrow, eating croissants and drinking coffee at Bliss before joining Jem and Chris (who I met through the Open Mic night at O'Casey's) for an afternoon guitar/ukulele jam session. Hopefully with beer. Over and out for the weekend...
With a lot of our office out on field visits this week I haven't been able to run any internal workshops or group sessions so I've been busy setting up and attending external meetings to identify opportunities where our Civic Participation work could fit in with what other organisations are already doing/plan to do. Think the DFID meeting went really well (thanks to the pineapple practice?!) and it looks like there are lots of possibilities to follow up on, including one that links some of the work we've been doing on empowerment and accountability initiatives with DFID in London.
Had a really big IT breakthrough today when Outlook finally worked!! I cannot begin to describe what a difference it makes to be able to download emails (when the internet is working) and then work on them offline. It means I'm not so reliant on the internet working throughout the day as long as it comes on enough to send and receive at various points. So I spent the rest of the day catching up on emails, following up from this morning's meeting and planning for the upcoming Programme Quality Conference in Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania) at the end of February. I've felt so in the dark about so many things that I'd usually be really clued up on, so today it was like someone turning on a lightbulb to be able to get back up to speed.
I didn't get home till 7pm and was just trying to figure out what I had in the flat to eat (an onion, some pasta, 2 tomatoes and a pineapple - yes the same pineapple from this morning) when Mr and Mrs Jabba invited me in to join them for grilled mullet, tabbouleh, hummus and Lebanese flat bread. I heart the Jabbas. Really kept me going all night while I was working on a report for the National Youth Commission on the role/capacity of District Youth Councils. I am really tired and it just seems like there aren't enough hours in the day, but I'm looking forward to a day off tomorrow, eating croissants and drinking coffee at Bliss before joining Jem and Chris (who I met through the Open Mic night at O'Casey's) for an afternoon guitar/ukulele jam session. Hopefully with beer. Over and out for the weekend...
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| Mr and Mrs Jabba, "feeding me up" (as she says!) |
Great blog Charlotte :-) Sucks to be you eh ? ;-)
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